Stupid German Movie Titles Reloaded
Gunther Heinrich, 28 Mar 2008 | The Movie & Me
It is almost unbelievable how successful my post dealing with stupid German movie titles became. Well, at least my various tools I have installed for basic tracking tell me this. So, what could be better than build upon this success? You named it: nothing.
Hence, without much further ado I bring you a new part giving you some new stupid German movie titles. Because the ones I already posted are by far not the only ones.
- Original Title: The Thing
Original Title in German: Das Ding
German Title: Das Ding aus einer anderen Welt
German Title in English: The thing from another world
Comment: Well, it seems that The Thing in German was not good enough. It seems that the studios thought about giving more information about things (no pun intended) we already knew. Sigh.
- Original Title: Weird Science
Original Title in German: Komische Wissenschaft
German Title: L.I.S.A. - Der helle Wahnsinn
German Title in English: L.I.S.A. - Sheer lunacy (rough translation)
Comment: Oh why. OH WHY? Weird Science is a great title for a movie. But for some reason I can’t comprehend why they chose this one. It seems David Hasselhoff has to visit those guys and punch their weird science out of their minds.
- Original Title: Meet the Parents
Original Title in German: Triff die Eltern
German Title: Meine Braut, ihr Vater und ich
German Title in English: My bride, her father and Me
Comment: Admittedly the translation of the original title doesn’t even come close to the “cool” sound. Yet, the German version is bland and too.fricking.long.
- Original Title: Pushing Tin
Original Title in German: Dosenschubser (rough translation)
German Title: Turbulenzen und andere Katastrophen
German Title in English: Turbulences and other catastrophes
Comment: That’s a title, isn’t it? Well, I watched the movie, but to declare turbulences as catastrophes is a little bit…harsh. Well, at least this title is a true catastrophe.
- Original Title: Ruthless People
Original Title in German: Mitleidlose Menschen
German Title: Die unglaubliche Entführung der verrückten Mrs. Stone
German Title in English: The incredible kidnapping of the crazy Mrs. Stone
Comment: Yeah, those were the days, when our beloved title creators even didn’t have an idea on their own but had to rely on older ones (see: Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug)
- Original Title: Blades of Glory
Original Title in German: Klingen des Ruhmes
German Title: Die Eisprinzen
German Title in English: The Ice Princes
Comment: I don’t know why they didn’t keep the original meaning. Perhaps they thought it would sound too…Schwarzenegger-ish. I don’t know. Well, the movie is not the best one out there, so the bad title fits to some degree. The image in this regard truly speaks for itself:
- Original Title: The Pacifier
Original Title in German: Der Schnuller
German Title: Der Babynator
German Title in English: The Babynator
Comment: *shiver* Ok. This one is truly exceptional, because the translation of the English title would have lead to something really bad, too (pacifier = “tool” for babies). But whoever came up with this bad pun to THE TERMINATOR should be getting a visit from Him.
- Original Title: Accepted
Original Title in German: Zugelassen
German Title: S.H.I.T. - Die High School GmbH
German Title in English: S.H.I.T. - The High School Corp.
Comment: I watched the movie in my local theater and boy am I glad to have watched this one in English. If I would have seen the German title I really would have jumped out of the window and missed a rather good comedy.
- Original Title: The Man who knew too little
Original Title in German: Der Mann, der zu wenig wusste
German Title: Agent Null Null Nix - Bill Murray in hirnloser Mission
German Title in English: Agent Zero Zero Nothing - Bill Murray in a brainless mission (verrrry rough translation)
Comment: Ok. This one is a true crime. Any the studio who came up with this shit should be kicked down from this ball called earth. I almost never have seen such an insulting title for a good comedy as this one. The German version not only looses the pun to the Hitchcock-classic THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, but moreover they went for this shit. It really seems that the title makers thought no one would know the original movie from Hitchcock. Sad, sad world. (By the way: the Hitchcock classic has been translates faithfully)
- Original Title: Mr. Ricco
Original Title in German: Herr Ricco
German Title: Was nützt dem toten Hund ein Beefsteak?
German Title in English: What use to the dead dog is the beef steak?
Comment: OK besides the fact of hoping I got the translation right, this one would win any contest in terms of word count difference between two languages. I triple checked this one just to be sure that I this was no joke. Well, as you can see this one is no joke.
These are some new examples of how bad a movie title can be “translated” into German. And as I stated in my last “Titles Post”, these ones are truly hard to swallow when you are a movie fan knowing the original ones.
And as you can see some of the above examples are rather young. So it seems that to this day the German Title Guys(c) don’t know what to do with the original material they get.
Well, at least they give me material I can use for this blog.
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Hello from Germany,
nice pages - but I’m missing a particular translation (one of my favorites):
“Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964 by Byron Haskin), which translates to “Robinson Crusoe auf dem Mars” was renamed to “Notlandung im Weltraum” (English: “Crash Landing in Space”). Aarrgh - how can anyone make a crash landing in pure nowhere?
Kind regards
Wilfried Wittkowsky
Thank you very much for your comment.
Indeed, this one is also a hot participant in the most stupid movie titles club.
Why do the marketing people always have to go for the we-make-it-seem-action-packed-so-they-will-come kind of thinking. They don’t even care when the title itself becomes so…silly?
Sigh.
I would have to argue that “The Thing From Another World” is correct since it is the full title of the 1951 version. The 1982 Thing is one of my favorites, though.
Great post.